I have made it through November and I was a "winner" for NaNoWrimo, although my story is not yet finished. We're talking over 75K words and still not done! LOL But at the end of the month meant the end of focusing only on writing and back to doing all the things that require my attention this time of year.
One thing I do at this holiday season is bake. Oh yes, I bake a lot. But I haven't come up with a plan yet for how to get all the treats I want to make, made, while still maintaining some sanity. I have been feeling very anxious and irritable the last week or so - asthma is not helping - and so I just want to curl up and do nothing for a day or two.
I made 100 invitations for my church Relief Society "Progressive Dinner" using my Cricut to make the background pieces and the embellishment pieces, but when you make 100 items that are all the same, you have to sacrifice something: in this case it was sacrificing the "cute" factor. They do not look how I envisioned them, but that is just the way it is.
I am in the process of scanning photos and negatives that I received a couple of weeks ago from my Aunt Kathy. The pictures are scanned, but now it's time to go through the negatives. I am pleased to have negatives of my parents' wedding photos... That is a real blessing! However, I need to work with my scanner to find the right settings to get the depth in the black and white negatives.
So, I hope to get a layout or two done in this Christmas season. I have a plan to work on some photos tonight with my daughters about past Christmases. My 9 year old loves to create with paper and glue, so that is what we'll do for family night. Not that we ever really HAVE "Family Home Evening" like we're supposed to, but occasionally we'll do something together. It's hard when I'm flying solo on the church-y stuff.
Yes, I did mention I am a cranky, irritable Grinch of a Mama right now. ;-)
Back to scanning negatives. I hope to find some treasures amid the celluloid!
Dece
p.s. As to the confused. I am confused by some of the things I see posted on various websites as far as layouts go. I do not understand using so much "bling" and so many thick textured flowers and sprays. If it's for a 3-D project, I get it. But for something that's going into a page protector, it makes no sense at all! I guess there is a reason I'm not up for being published anymore! LOL
Monday, December 06, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Amazed by Creativity
I went online today with the hope of getting some card sketches at Pagemaps because I need to get on top of the crafts that I am going to donate to the Fall Festival for my daughter's school. I am simply in awe of the creativity of scrappers and card makers and paper crafters out there. It makes me miss those days of creating pretty things SO MUCH!
I am proud to say that I did make something recently. It's not especially intricate or publish-worthy, but it felt good to stay up late one night this week and WORK. I bought a Cricut Expression over a month ago - what can I say, it's one of those splurges that make me feel happy - and I had the machine cut out the flourishes and the titles and it made my pages look so much more like I envision them in my mind. :)
Each section of the recipe book has some of my husband and my favorite recipes. This was part of a gift I gave to my beautiful cousin Ruby for her wedding. It was such a pleasure to take a gift that means something to me and Tony, as cooking is one of the things we really enjoy. Well, he enjoys the cooking, I enjoy baking. Anyway, I know how much I would have cherished a book like this given to me by my mom or aunt or a nice cousin (LOL). I made sure to save the SVG file for the recipe and flourish cuts as well as the recipes so that I can make something similar for my girls when the day comes that they are old enough to be out on their own and getting married.
We (my husband and children) went to Michigan over fall break and had a wonderful time. I have so many gorgeous photos that are just begging to be scrapbooked. First, I need to get the donations for the Fall Festival done, then I'll start scrapping my family photos. I don't know what's "in style" as far as scrapbooking and I do not really plan to go out and buy new paper and baubles to scrap. I am going to use what I've got and do the best I can with it. I figure that my kids aren't going to know or care that I didn't use the latest Basic Grey papers and stuff to scrapbook. They're just going to be happy that I did make the pages and kept the memories. :)
I am also going to jump in and write with reckless abandon from November 1st through the 30th for National Novel Writing Month NaNoWriMo I hope that I will be able to get my own creativity in gear and write, craft, and bake my way through the holidays.
I am so grateful for the blessings I have in my life. Scrapbooking, writing, cooking, and genealogy research are all ways that I show my family how much I love them - and how much I love God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I hope to leave my family a legacy of faith and of feeling cared for.
I think I just dangled a participle. LOL
I wish you a Happy Halloween, and hope that you will find something creative to be amazed by this week.
:)
Dece
I am proud to say that I did make something recently. It's not especially intricate or publish-worthy, but it felt good to stay up late one night this week and WORK. I bought a Cricut Expression over a month ago - what can I say, it's one of those splurges that make me feel happy - and I had the machine cut out the flourishes and the titles and it made my pages look so much more like I envision them in my mind. :)
Each section of the recipe book has some of my husband and my favorite recipes. This was part of a gift I gave to my beautiful cousin Ruby for her wedding. It was such a pleasure to take a gift that means something to me and Tony, as cooking is one of the things we really enjoy. Well, he enjoys the cooking, I enjoy baking. Anyway, I know how much I would have cherished a book like this given to me by my mom or aunt or a nice cousin (LOL). I made sure to save the SVG file for the recipe and flourish cuts as well as the recipes so that I can make something similar for my girls when the day comes that they are old enough to be out on their own and getting married.
We (my husband and children) went to Michigan over fall break and had a wonderful time. I have so many gorgeous photos that are just begging to be scrapbooked. First, I need to get the donations for the Fall Festival done, then I'll start scrapping my family photos. I don't know what's "in style" as far as scrapbooking and I do not really plan to go out and buy new paper and baubles to scrap. I am going to use what I've got and do the best I can with it. I figure that my kids aren't going to know or care that I didn't use the latest Basic Grey papers and stuff to scrapbook. They're just going to be happy that I did make the pages and kept the memories. :)
I am also going to jump in and write with reckless abandon from November 1st through the 30th for National Novel Writing Month NaNoWriMo I hope that I will be able to get my own creativity in gear and write, craft, and bake my way through the holidays.
I am so grateful for the blessings I have in my life. Scrapbooking, writing, cooking, and genealogy research are all ways that I show my family how much I love them - and how much I love God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I hope to leave my family a legacy of faith and of feeling cared for.
I think I just dangled a participle. LOL
I wish you a Happy Halloween, and hope that you will find something creative to be amazed by this week.
:)
Dece
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Been a long time! I'm ready to get scrapping!
Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged here and even longer since I've done any scrapbooking - paper or digital.
I am about to begin working on a "baby book" for my baby boy, who is now 18 months old and looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy. He is a joy to me and I want to remember all of these days that we have together before my mind has completely turned to mush!
The other day I went to Michael's and bought a few photo boxes with the hope - and plan - to organize my boxes and boxes of photos into some kind of chronological order. I received photos from my parents' house that other people took -- most are those my Grandpa had printed from holiday parties and such that he gave prints to my mom and then my dad. Sometimes it really is a guessing game to figure out which year things are from.
I used to be sooooo good about writing the date on the back of the pictures when I received them back from the developer. Now, I have to go through and decide which photos I want printed and start a weekly regiment of ordering photos of my VAST collection of digital pics. I'm never going to get them scrapped if I don't get them printed. I have so much STUFF in my son's bedroom closet that is just sitting there, not being used, when inside my soul is a scrapbooker ready to scrap again.
If you have ideas about what the best place to get pics printed is, let me know. I plan on making a trip to Costco to get pics developed, but I am thinking the .99 shipping of Winkflash may get me addicted to them. Not going to Costco, not being enticed to pick up "a few other things" while I'm picking up pictures would be a very good thing! ;-)
I have to confess, I have been scouting eBay for a Cricut Expression die-cutting machine. I don't want to spend so much money, but with my carpal tunnel, and my need for speed to scrap, I see the machine as being a big time saver for making cute scrapbook pages. You can also use it for cutting vinyl and I am always salivating over the cute home decor using vinyl lettering. There is a big stretched canvas painting in my front room that I have wanted to repurpose for YEARS. Some acrylic paint and vinyl lettering could turn it into the art piece I really want. I foresee a travel or genealogy theme to it -- Families are Forever, that sort of thing. It's huge - 3.5 ft by 5 feet, or maybe its a 4 x 5 feet. It's in need of fixing! ;-)
So, you may wonder what got me back to scrapping mode.
1) My son sleeps through the night, takes a good nap, and is a sweet little toddler. This means I am more likely to feel like doing SOMETHING instead of sleep.
2) I got "stuck" with doing crafts for my daughter's school fall festival (I usually bake things for the country store). I started making hair flowers and greeting cards and now I'm longing to break out my cardstock and Hermafix and get to work!
3) My family history is of utmost importance to me and I desperately want to save the memories of my parents for my children. Dominic needs to be able to open up books and see his Grammie and Papa, to read about the fun (and not so fun) things we did, to know that even if they are not here to hold him and cuddle him now, they loved me, they loved their family, they worked hard and had faith. The same for my grandparents and generations further back. If I don't keep the history, who will?
Well, my little one is grouchy right now, so I better go back to taking care of him. I can't wait for nap time to get some creative time in! :)
Dece
I am about to begin working on a "baby book" for my baby boy, who is now 18 months old and looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy. He is a joy to me and I want to remember all of these days that we have together before my mind has completely turned to mush!
The other day I went to Michael's and bought a few photo boxes with the hope - and plan - to organize my boxes and boxes of photos into some kind of chronological order. I received photos from my parents' house that other people took -- most are those my Grandpa had printed from holiday parties and such that he gave prints to my mom and then my dad. Sometimes it really is a guessing game to figure out which year things are from.
I used to be sooooo good about writing the date on the back of the pictures when I received them back from the developer. Now, I have to go through and decide which photos I want printed and start a weekly regiment of ordering photos of my VAST collection of digital pics. I'm never going to get them scrapped if I don't get them printed. I have so much STUFF in my son's bedroom closet that is just sitting there, not being used, when inside my soul is a scrapbooker ready to scrap again.
If you have ideas about what the best place to get pics printed is, let me know. I plan on making a trip to Costco to get pics developed, but I am thinking the .99 shipping of Winkflash may get me addicted to them. Not going to Costco, not being enticed to pick up "a few other things" while I'm picking up pictures would be a very good thing! ;-)
I have to confess, I have been scouting eBay for a Cricut Expression die-cutting machine. I don't want to spend so much money, but with my carpal tunnel, and my need for speed to scrap, I see the machine as being a big time saver for making cute scrapbook pages. You can also use it for cutting vinyl and I am always salivating over the cute home decor using vinyl lettering. There is a big stretched canvas painting in my front room that I have wanted to repurpose for YEARS. Some acrylic paint and vinyl lettering could turn it into the art piece I really want. I foresee a travel or genealogy theme to it -- Families are Forever, that sort of thing. It's huge - 3.5 ft by 5 feet, or maybe its a 4 x 5 feet. It's in need of fixing! ;-)
So, you may wonder what got me back to scrapping mode.
1) My son sleeps through the night, takes a good nap, and is a sweet little toddler. This means I am more likely to feel like doing SOMETHING instead of sleep.
2) I got "stuck" with doing crafts for my daughter's school fall festival (I usually bake things for the country store). I started making hair flowers and greeting cards and now I'm longing to break out my cardstock and Hermafix and get to work!
3) My family history is of utmost importance to me and I desperately want to save the memories of my parents for my children. Dominic needs to be able to open up books and see his Grammie and Papa, to read about the fun (and not so fun) things we did, to know that even if they are not here to hold him and cuddle him now, they loved me, they loved their family, they worked hard and had faith. The same for my grandparents and generations further back. If I don't keep the history, who will?
Well, my little one is grouchy right now, so I better go back to taking care of him. I can't wait for nap time to get some creative time in! :)
Dece
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Free Template 2/16
Happy Tuesday! This week I didn't forget that we have two "mondays" with the holiday. LOL
This week we have another "love" inspired template:
link to download:I hope you had a great Valentine's Day! Mine was a laid back, relaxing day at home with my family... Tony and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary at the end of the month, so this whole month is filled with LOVE!
Have a great week and thanks for any and all comments! :)
Dece
Dece
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Free Template Tuesday 2/9
Happy Tuesday!
I've been working on genealogy this week instead of scrappy stuff, but as my scrapping is my way of preserving family history, I guess it all goes together, right? :) Here is my layout and below is the link to download this template!
If you would like the template in PNG instead of PSD, let me know.
I've been working on genealogy this week instead of scrappy stuff, but as my scrapping is my way of preserving family history, I guess it all goes together, right? :) Here is my layout and below is the link to download this template!
If you would like the template in PNG instead of PSD, let me know.
This one is good for Valentine's Day or any "love" occasion! :)
Have a great week!
Dece
Dece
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Free Template Tuesday 2/2
Happy Ground Hog's Day!
but more importantly, Happy Lost Premiere Day! :) I have been waiting months and months for the new (sadly final) season of Lost. You know what I will be doing tonight -- camped out on the sofa watching Lost in HD! :)
Here is this week's free template:
but more importantly, Happy Lost Premiere Day! :) I have been waiting months and months for the new (sadly final) season of Lost. You know what I will be doing tonight -- camped out on the sofa watching Lost in HD! :)
Here is this week's free template:
I hope your week is terrific! And since I live in Arizona, I'm quite happy that the groundhog saw his shadow. Putting off summer another 6 weeks sounds like heaven to me! LOL
See ya next Tuesday!
Dece
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wackier Wednesday!
Well, here I am again... But better late than never, right? ;-)
Since I'm late I'll share two templates this week! :)
Let's see if I can be ON TIME next Tuesday! LOL
Have a great week!
Dece
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wacky Wednesday!
It's a Wacky Wednesday!
Okay, that federal holiday really mixed up my sense of time. I kept thinking today was Tuesday, except that I did remember to take the garbage to the curb, since it's trash day. I guess the example of my neighbors helped me to remember! But, since I mixed up my days, there is an additional template for your downloading and digi scrapping pleasure! :)
This week's template:
My take on it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/202721112/4422a758/dece_dec09_template15.html
Bonus Wacky Wednesday template:
Okay, that federal holiday really mixed up my sense of time. I kept thinking today was Tuesday, except that I did remember to take the garbage to the curb, since it's trash day. I guess the example of my neighbors helped me to remember! But, since I mixed up my days, there is an additional template for your downloading and digi scrapping pleasure! :)
This week's template:
My take on it:
http://www.4shared.com/file/202721112/4422a758/dece_dec09_template15.htmlBonus Wacky Wednesday template:
http://www.4shared.com/file/202721242/3b13ed44/dece_dec09_template16.html
Thanks for coming by my scrappy blog and taking a look. I appreciate your kind comments!
See you soon!
Dece
Monday, January 11, 2010
Free Template Tuesday #2
It's already the second Tuesday of January... wow! This week has gone by quickly!
Here is my take on this week's template:
Here is my take on this week's template:
This layout is of my beautiful Grandmother, who I am named after. I created all of the papers I used on my layout... I think eventually I will design my own elements, but I'm not practiced in PSE to do the ideas I have justice.
Here is the template:
http://www.4shared.com/file/186133122/3018f5de/dece_dec09_template14.html
Thanks for taking a look at my templates! Please leave me some love if you download -- and when you create a layout, shoot me an email or link it here! I'd love to see your work! :)
Have a great week!
Dece
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Free Template Tuesday #1
Alright, we're off to the start of a new year, a new decade! Wow! I look back on where I was 10 years ago and it does not seem possible that so much time has passed. Tony and I were engaged and getting preparations made for our wedding. We did not have Hannah or Dominic. Things change so quickly, whether we're ready for it or not!
Here is the first Free Template Tuesday of 2010!
I was inspired to create this layout from the journaling (All About Me) challenge here:
My life changed dramatically in 2009. I had a baby in March, my dad passed away in June, my husband had gastric bypass surgery in July, and we just have to keep on going whether we're ready for the changes or not. I am looking forward to good things in 2010, but honestly I'm a little scared for the possibilities, too! After losing my parents in successive years, I'm a little nervous!
But I have so many blessings and I am grateful for the good in my life. Because of my faith in God and His Son, I do not need to fear. I can be happy. And that is the biggest lesson I've learned from the last year(s)!
Please download the template and let me know what you think of it! I appreciate any and all comments and wish for you a Happy, prosperous New Year! :) Let's hear it then, for twenty-ten!
Love, Dece
Friday, January 01, 2010
Twelfth Day of Templates!
Yes, a week late and here is Template 12!
Getting sick for Christmas was not quite what I had in mind for the holidays! A week later and we're all trying to feel better. We did head up to Payson yesterday to take my DD#1's friend home and then we made a stop in the snow to play. It was Dominic's first time to see/feel/experience snow and Hannah's first time for REMEMBERING snow, so there were lots of pics taken. Yay! I love snow pics!
I will be back on Tuesday, January 5th with a new template. I intend to make Tuesdays my Free-Template Tuesday! My goal is to get myself scrapping a layout a week, to try to chronicle this new decade! :)
Happy New Year!
Dece
Happy New Year!
Dece
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